USA > Connecticut > New Haven County > New Haven > New Haven, a book recording the varied activities of the author in his efforts over many years to promote the welfare of the city of his adoption since 1883, together with some researches into its storied past and many illustrations > Part 51
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"I have been at work for a number of months upon the strength of inspiration growing out of remarks of yours at a meeting of the Town and City Improvement Committee, upon a Civic Primer of New Haven, in which it has been my purpose to incorporate all that can be said upon the subject of City Planning. I hope to go much farther than is implied in the expression taken in a merely material sense; in short, to gather material for a study of the city on every side,-the story and spirit of its founders, its development, with adequate recognition of those who have contributed most largely thereto, its educational history, its situation and material advantages and possibilities, the life of the city as it is to-day, its government, institutions, industries, transportation, etc. Out of this will naturally be developed a study of the needs of the city, present defects and future needs and the lines of development which should be fostered.
The next day I wrote Mr. Diamond in part as follows :
"I am delighted to learn that you have a Primer of New Haven History and of City Planning under way, and shall be pleased to talk the book over with you as soon as we can find an opportunity. I long ago came to the conclusion that we must educate the boys and girls in our public schools to do our real work of City Planning. Work must be preceded by interest, and interest proceeds from knowledge and proper pride. Towns and cities should be as individual as persons, and, therefore, knowl- edge of local history and traditions, historical and industrial, is desirable and even necessary. When the great body of our citizens become inter- ested in our city, then we shall have a 'City Beautiful' in the real sense of the term.
Mr. Diamond went forward with his work. By midsummer he submitted a list of chapter headings showing the compre- hensive character of his survey of the subject, and before the year was out, he had finished his manuscript and put it in the hands of the Committee. Unfortunately, we were then in the second year of the World War, which more and more absorbed the attention of all. Moreover, it was thought that Mr. Diamond had done his work too well, in the sense that
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he had made it too full, too comprehensive, too philosophical for use as a primer. To fit it for its purpose, it was felt that it needed to be simplified and condensed, and in the stress of the times and in view of the waning interest in the City Plan- ning Movement, the Committee decided not to press the matter. Mr. Diamond had thus, perforce, to join the Ranks of the Disappointed, and to find what consolation he could in pub- lishing his material in condensed form in a series of articles in the New Haven Evening Register. His work remains, however, and when the times are right for a revival of this necessary instrument of education-a Primer of New Haven History Combined with a Primer of City Planning-Mr. Diamond's work will be a mine of information and of inestim- able value. Of all the valiant band who worked for City Planning, few of our citizens deserve more praise for unre- quited time and labor spent than Mr. Diamond.
The Birth-Place, December 24, 1924.
LXXII.
THE USE OF THE STREETS BY PRIVATE INTER- ESTS-THE FIGHT OVER THE SHARTENBERG & ROBINSON MARQUEE-THE PRINCIPLE INVOLVED-REFUSAL OF THE NEWS- PAPERS TO PRINT MY PROTEST COMPELS ME TO BECOME A PAMPHLETEER-"THE VICTORY OF THE VANQUISHED."
"Fight, nor think the battle long, Soon shall victory tune your song" -From an old hymn.
In the forepart of 1914, the Board of Aldermen were peti- tioned for a permit to erect a permanent marquee, sixty-seven feet long and twelve feet wide, in front of the building occu- pied by Shartenberg & Robinson on the north side of Chapel Street. The petition was very properly denied and the marquee issue became the talk of the town. Under heavy pressure the Aldermen reconsidered their action in the prem- ises and granted the petition, whereupon the marquee was built and the public right invaded-no new thing. I opposed the permit as resulting in an invasion of a public right and prepared "An Open Letter to the Honorable Board of Aldermen of the City of New Haven on the Necessity of Ordinances to Control the Use of the City Streets by Private Interests." The news- papers refused to print this against the interest of so great an advertiser as Shartenberg & Robinson, and I was compelled to be my own publisher-to become a pamphleteer. The pamphlet was delivered hot from the press to the Aldermen,
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USE OF STREETS BY PRIVATE INTERESTS
who perforce yielded to other arguments, as already stated. The pamphlet then sent to students of such matters, brought significant replies, some of which I succeeded in printing in the Journal-Courier Forum of July 29, 1914.
USE OF CITY STREETS AND SIDEWALKS
(Printed in the New Haven Journal-Courier of July 29, 1914.)
EDITOR OF THE FORUM :
SIR :- I notice that under your heading, "The People's Forum," you state that "The Journal-Courier will publish such letters as its readers may desire to write it." Taking advan- tage of this invitation, I make bold, at the suggestion of a cor- respondent, to ask you to publish the following letters com- menting upon my "Open Letter to the Honorable Board of Aldermen of the City of New Haven on the Necessity of Ordi- nances to Control the Use of the City Streets by Private Inter- ests." These letters have been received from former President Taft; from Hon. George A. McAneny, President of the Board of Aldermen of the City of New York, probably the foremost authority in this country on the general subject of the use of city streets and sidewalks by private interests in contravention of the public right; from Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, at the head of his profession in this country and, with Mr. Cass Gilbert, the author of the New Haven City Improvement Report; from our City Engineer, Mr. Frederick L. Ford, who needs no commendation from my pen, and from our Corporation Counsel, Hon. Charles Kleiner, whose scholarly opinions have given him an enviable position among the advisers of our City.
Considering the overwhelming blow (?) the propositions advocated by my "Open Letter" received at the public hearing of the Board of Aldermen on the evening of June 29th, I am aware that I may be regarded as having considerable temerity in continuing to advocate these propositions. I cannot, how- ever, regard them as constituting in any sense a "forlorn
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hope" as long as they have the support of Mr. Taft, Mr. McAneny, Mr. Olmsted, Mr. Ford, Mr. Kleiner, and many other good citizens.
My conviction is that out of this marquee fight, however settled, we are bound to place on our books at no distant date ordinances for the better control of the use of our city streets and sidewalks.
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR.
July 27, 1914.
WILLIAM H. TAFT Pointe-au-Pic, Canada, July 16, 1914.
MY DEAR MR. SEYMOUR :
I have read your open letter to the New Haven Board of Aldermen about the use of streets for marquees. I think it is a very bad policy to encroach upon the streets in any way, and I am thoroughly in sympathy with your opposition to the pro- posal. The difficulty in such a discussion is that everybody's business is nobody's business, and the only persons who bring real influence to bear upon those in authority are the ones who have special property interests in the proposal; and where, as in this case, those seeking the privilege are large advertisers, the newspapers find it difficult to take a judicial attitude on the subject. There is no one whose experience in respect to this matter is more valuable than that of Mr. McAneny, and his judgment is entitled to the greatest weight. I sincerely hope you will succeed in your opposition.
If it will do any good to use my name as one of your sympa- thizers and supporters in this matter, you are entirely at liberty to use it.
Sincerely yours,
WM. H. TAFT.
MR. GEORGE D. SEYMOUR,
129 Church Street, New Haven, Connecticut.
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USE OF STREETS BY PRIVATE INTERESTS
CITY OF NEW YORK OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMEN CITY HALL
MY DEAR MR. SEYMOUR :
June 30, 1914.
I thank you very much for sending me your open letter to the New Haven Board of Aldermen, about the use of streets for private interests. I have read it with interest. There is no doubt at all that you are on the right track, and I hope that you will win out. If I can be of the slightest aid as you go along, either in sending instances of our experience here, or copies of the rules we have adopted covering any detail of the subject, I hope that you will command me freely.
Faithfully yours,
GEORGE A. MCANENY.
GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR, EsQ., New Haven, Conn.
OLMSTED BROTHERS LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS, BROOKLINE, MASS.
July 17, 1914.
MR. GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR, 129 Church Street, New Haven, Conn.
MY DEAR SEYMOUR :
I have just now had a chance to read your open letter on the use of the city streets by private interests, dealing parti- cularly with the permanent marquee question. I shall be inter- ested to hear the results. I need hardly tell you that I agree
1
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thoroughly with the position you take, and that I am glad to have a copy of so good a statement of it.
Sincerely yours, FREDERICK LAW OLMSTED.
BUREAU OF ENGINEERING ROOM 18, CITY HALL
New Haven, Conn., July 24, 1914.
DEAR MR. SEYMOUR :
I heartily concur in what you say about street-encroach- ments in your open letter to the Board of Aldermen, except on the marquee problem about which we seem to differ somewhat.
I favored the Shartenberg & Robinson marquee because the Board of Aldermen had been granting such permits and their request differed from previous ones only in the size of the marquee, but since the contest has been waging I have become strongly convinced of the necessity of an ordinance specifying certain restrictions which should be adhered to in the construc- tion of such structures or encroachments. I believe all per- mits for the erection of encroachments in city streets should be revokable by the city upon reasonable notice to the owners thereof, and that bonds should be required to indemnify the city against damage or injury to persons either in the erection or maintenance of encroachments.
At the first opportunity, if you so desire, I shall be glad to express myself in more detail regarding the various subjects discussed in your pamphlet, although you have covered them very thoroughly and exhaustively.
Very truly yours,
F. L. FORD, City Engineer.
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USE OF STREETS BY PRIVATE INTERESTS
CITY OF NEW HAVEN DEPARTMENT OF CORPORATION COUNSEL
New Haven, Conn., July 22, 1914.
DEAR BRO. SEYMOUR :
If the use of my name is intended to merely mean that I support your view in regard to the "marquee," I have no objection to your using it.
Sincerely yours, CHARLES KLEINER.
MR. GEO. D. SEYMOUR, City.
NOTE (written ten years later ) :
My protest failed (as most protests do), the Aldermen, under heavy pressure, reconsidered their vote and in due course the Shartenberg and Robinson marquee was built and remains a monument to what may be done against the, advice of the Corporation Counsel, if enough pressure is exerted by and for petitioners for special privileges. But the battle was not lost; the "victory was to the vanquished." No similar marquee permits have been granted since, and I am assured that the Board of Aldermen are to-day jealously guarding against the use of the city streets by private interests .- The Birth-Place, August 4, 1924.
LXXIII.
THE COMMISSION ON THE CITY PLAN, ONE OF THE FRUITS OF THE CITY IMPROVEMENT MOVEMENT BEGUN IN 1907.
AN ACT AMENDING THE CHARTER OF THE CITY OF NEW HAVEN AND CREATING A CITY PLAN COMMISSION
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened : .
SECTION I. There shall be in the city of New Haven a commission on the city plan, which shall consist of the mayor, who shall be its presiding officer, the city engineer, one member of the board of aldermen, to be selected by said board, and four citizens, neither of whom shall hold any other position in said city government, to be appointed by the mayor.
SEC. 2. It shall be the duty of said city plan commission, in addition to the duties hereinafter set forth, to prepare a comprehensive plan for the systematic and harmonious development of the city and to that end said commission shall have authority to employ expert advice and to incur such other expenses as may be necessary, not exceeding the amount appropriated by the board of finance for that purpose.
SEC. 3. The necessary expenses of said commission shall be paid by the city, but no member thereof shall be paid for his services as such member.
SEC. 4. Within thirty days after the passage of this act the mayor shall appoint two citizen members of said commission to hold office until February I, 1915, and two citizens to hold office until February 1, 1917, and in the month of January, 1915, and biennially thereafter, when the terms of such citizen members respectively expire, the mayor shall appoint two citizen members of said commission for the term of four years from the first day of February then next ensuing. Within thirty days after the passage of this act the board of aldermen shall appoint from its number a member of said commission to hold office until February I, 1914. During the month of January, 1914, and in each year thereafter, the board of aldermen of said city shall appoint from its number a member of said commission to hold office for the term of one year from the first day of February then next ensuing. The members of said commission shall hold office until their successors are elected and qualified.
SEC. 5. All questions concerning the location of any public building, esplanade, boulevard, parkway, street, highway, square, park, or rear areas in tenement house districts, shall be referred to said commission by the
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THE COMMISSION ON THE CITY PLAN
board of aldermen for its consideration and report before final action is taken on any such question.
SEC. 6. The board of aldermen may refer to said commission the con- struction or carrying out of any public work not expressly within the province of other boards or commissions of said city, and may delegate to said commission all powers which said board deems necessary to complete such work.
SEC. 7. Said commission may make or cause to be made a map or maps of said city or any portion thereof, showing locations proposed by it for any new public building, esplanade, boulevard, parkway, or street, and grades thereof, and street, building, and veranda lines thereon, or for any new square or park or any changes by it deemed advisable in the present location or improvement of any public building, street, grade, line, square, park, or rear area and may employ expert advice in the making of such map or maps.
SEC. 8. Said city of New Haven may buy and hold real property or any interest or estate therein within its corporate limits for establishing esplanades, boulevards, parkways, park grounds, streets, highways, squares, sites for public buildings, and reservations in, about, along, and leading to any of the same; and, after the establishment, layout, and completion of such improvements, may convey and give good title to any property thus acquired and not necessary for such improvements, with or without reser- vations concerning the future use and occupation of such real estate so as to protect such public works and improvements and their environs, and to preserve the view, appearance, light, air, and usefulness of such public works, and may for the purposes of this section act through said commission.
Approved, May 28, 1913.
As first organized the members of the Commission were as follows :
HON. FRANK J. RICE Mayor of New Haven, Chairman FREDERICK L. PERRY President of the Board of Aldermen
FREDERICK L. FORD City Engineer of New Haven
ISAAC M. ULLMAN EZEKIEL G. STODDARD JAMES T. MORAN GEORGE DUDLEY SEYMOUR, Secretary
LXXIV.
A VALEDICTORY.
(Reprinted from the New Haven Journal-Courier of July 23, 1924.)
July 17, 1924 My Dear Mr. Mayor:
I find myself obliged to ask you to relieve me of my posi- tion upon the Commission on the City Plan, on which I have served since its organization in 1913. I am constrained to retire at this time for personal reasons unnecessary to specify, and for the reason that I feel that the outspoken criticisms of the Commission for its failure to function are to a large extent justified.
The Commission on the City Plan has for some time been publicly charged with blocking public business by its failure to hold meetings and consider and report upon questions placed within its jurisdiction by the amendment to the City Charter of May 28, 1913, creating the Commission. Since the failure of the Commission to prepare a plan for the orderly develop- ment of the City and to hold meetings to meet the requirements of public business has been beyond my personal control, and since much of the criticism has been laid at my door, I am advised to accompany my resignation by a statement of the case from my point of view, so that the community may under- stand that the failure of the Commission to prepare a plan and to function as intended, cannot be charged against the members of the Commission, collectively or individually. I should have resigned some years ago had it not been for my strong reluctance to comment upon the administration of city affairs by the late Mayor Rice, so highly and deservedly hon- ored for probity and industry. The public interest constrains me now to overrule my personal feeling.
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A VALEDICTORY
Commission Created 1913 by Amendment to City Charter
The amendment of 1913 to the Charter of the City of New Haven, creating the Commission on the City Plan, was the result of a city improvement campaign which it was my privilege to set in motion in 1907. A number of our repre- sentative and progressive citizens subscribed to a fund, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted, the outstanding city-planner in the entire country, and Mr. Cass Gilbert, one of the foremost American architects and also an expert in city-planning, were invited to study New Haven as a physical entity, and submit a report to a committee appointed by his Honor, Mayor Stud- ley, who was sympathetic to the movement. Accordingly, Messrs. Olmsted and Gilbert came to New Haven in 1907 and began comprehensive studies, the results of which were embodied in "The Report of the City Improvement Commis- sion," published in 1910. This Report is a well-known docu- ment and is in the hands of city-planners and in public and tech- nical libraries all over the United States. Unfortunately, little or no attention was paid to the Report by our city officials, though, as stated, it attracted attention throughout the entire country, doubtless due to the fame of New Haven as an ancient colonial city and the seat of a great university, and to the prestige of Messrs. Olmsted and Gilbert, upon whose studies it was based. It was a tentative report and not offered as a final solution of local problems. But the group of citi- zens who had become interested in city-planning for New Haven were not discouraged by the reception of the Report, and in 1913, largely through the activities of the Chamber of Commerce, then led by Colonel Isaac M. Ullman, an amend- ment to the City Charter, creating a City Plan Commission, was presented to and, in May of that year, passed by the State Legislature.
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NEW HAVEN :
Engineer Frederick L. Ford Never Given Promised Opportunity
At about that time, Mr. Frederick L. Ford, a native of New Haven County, a graduate of the Sheffield Scientific School in 1893, a trained engineer specializing in city-planning, was invited here from Hartford by Mayor Rice, with the under- standing that he was to begin the preparation of a comprehen- sive plan for the orderly and convenient future development of the City, under the direction of the Commission. Mr. Ford, after serving Hartford for eight years as its City Engineer, came to New Haven, qualified by study of American and foreign city-planning, to serve this community as a city- planner. He was never given an opportunity of doing what he might have done so well. That is another story, but he is entitled to some measure of justice.
Commission Anxious to Co-operate with Aldermanic Board to Forward Welfare of the City
The first meeting of the Commission was held in the City Hall on Monday, November 17, 1913, with the entire Commis- sion present,-namely, his Honor, Mayor Rice; Mr. Frederick L. Perry, President of the Board of Aldermen; Mr. Frederick L. Ford, City Engineer; Colonel Isaac M. Ullman, the late Mr. Ezekiel G. Stoddard, Mr. James T. Moran, and the writer, who was chosen Secretary of the Commission.
At this meeting, Messrs. Perry, Ford and the Secretary were appointed a Committee "to draft a suitable communication to the Board of Aldermen expressing the desire of the Commis- sion to co-operate with the Board in every possible way to further the interests of the City in the matter of its orderly and intelligent future development."
A Great Opportunity Lost
The second meeting of the Commission was held Decem- ber 29, 1913. At this meeting the Secretary presented the
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A VALEDICTORY
following resolution passed by the Board of Aldermen on November 17th and approved by the Mayor on November 24th :
"Resolved, that the question of the location of a new City Hall building or municipal building be referred to the City Plan Commission to inquire into the subject fully and make such recommendation to this Board as may be deemed proper."
Messrs. Stoddard, Ullman and Moran were appointed by the Mayor a sub-committee to make inquiries with respect to the purchase of the Metzgar, Ives and old County Court House properties, all adjoining the present City Hall, looking for- ward to the widening of Court Street and the erection at some- time in the future of a new City Hall and other buildings required for municipal purposes.
If the carefully considered and able report of this commit- tee had been put through, we should have no City Hall site problem to-day. The report in question led, however, to the purchase by the City of the old County Court House,-one of the best bargains the City of New Haven ever made. The City owes that much to the Commission at any rate.
Mayor Rice Not in Favor of City Planning
Mayor Rice was not in favor of city-planning, notwith- standing the fact that cities and towns, not only in the United States but throughout the entire world, were everywhere turn- ing to its principles and advantages. He failed rightly to understand the significance of the movement, which he seemed to think was based upon aesthetics, rather than upon funda- mental social and economic conditions, transportation, traffic, sanitary engineering, street and building lines, parks, recrea- tion grounds, etc.
In his annual budgets, Mayor Rice never asked for any appropriation for the work of the Commission, which obvi- ously could not be done by its members personally, since it involved expert work in the field, the preparation of maps, the compilation of traffic and other statistics, etc. Mr. Ford was
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at hand to direct the work of the Commission, had any appro- priation been made for men to work under him, but, as stated, no appropriation was ever made. Mayor Rice would not allow the Secretary to call meetings of the Commission, nor would he fix upon a plan of stated meetings. The meetings were called by him, largely at least, at his own discretion and pleasure.
Charter Amendment Made City Planning Mandatory
The act creating the Commission made mandatory the preparation of a "comprehensive plan for the systematic and harmonious development of the City," but nothing whatever was done by Mayor Rice or by his successors in that direction. The Commission has never received a penny for such work.
The Orange Street Approach: Gas Company Holds the Fort 1
Mayor Rice was succeeded by Mayor Campner, who sup- ported Mr. Ford's Orange Street station-approach plan,-well begun but still awaiting completion. The building of the New Haven Gas Company at the foot of Orange Street "holds the fort." As long as it does so, we cannot expect to interest the General Assembly in appropriating the money required to give us a new State Armory on another site, and thus pave the way for the removal of the present Armory, constituting an obstruction in the line of the accepted approach, which must remain of small service until the jog in Orange Street is removed, as well as the Armory. Orange Street has the best pavement of any of our streets; it is free from car tracks; it is one of our main streets, and it should not be blocked at its lower end as it is to-day. The removal of the Gas Company's building would certainly be followed by increased values in all the realty holdings to the south and east of it. If it is feasible to move the Public Library, unharmed, across Temple Street, to the site of the Yale University Press, it certainly is feasible to move the relatively small Gas Company building
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